Wow! Such a good movie.

Simply A Masterpiece

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Bill and Sam Mayhew have been driving cattle to market. At the end of the trail, Sam tries out a rodeo horse, but fails. He punches someone, and the sheriff takes him to jail, where he's supposed to spend 30 days. That's too long in Bill's mind, so he ties a strong rope to the bars of the cell window, and the other end to his horse. Soon, there's a loud noise , as much of that wall lays in a heap, allowing Sam to exit. They quickly ride out of town. The next town, young Sam gets in an argument about the Civil War, punches his prospective employer and shoots the bartender. Again, he and Bill hustle out of town, with a posse following. At rest, Bill tells Sam they're spitting up, as the is tired of being involved in Sam's loose cannon episodes. It happens that both decide to head for Denver from NM, and from there westward to the gold-mining town of Central City.(Historically, there was such a town, that much shrank after the gold ran out.). Bill soon gets a job with John Sutter, who runs the livery stable, while Sam(Tom, now) gets a job as a gunslinger with the ambitious Jim Donovan(Lee Cobb), who owns the town saloon. Sutton plans on starting up a stage run from Central City to Denver. Donovan decides this would be a profitable undertaking. Instead of trying to beat Sutton to the punch, he decides to try to sabotage efforts to get the stage line running, or sabotage the stage once it gets running. Thus, he has his henchmen steal a bunch of horses that were earmarked to pull the stages. But, Bill and sidekick Whipsaw(Andy Clyde) recapture them. When Donovan learns of a significant gold shipment on the first stage run, he plans to have his men steal the gold, thereby ruining the reputation of the fledging company. Donovan arm twists Bill , who will be the stage driver, to cooperate in facilitating the heist. Bill does transfer a strongbox from the stage to a buckboard driven by Donovan's men, but when the box is opened in Donovan's office, they are in for a surprise. Bill is present at this opening, and draws on the surprised group. His gun is knocked off target, and a free for all follows, which is the most exciting 'action' in the film, as it spreads to the stairs and downstairs. Brother Sam(Tom) then draws his gun on Bill. I leave the rest of that story for you to see. ....During their stay in Central City, the brothers have a friendly competition over Sutton's unmarried daughter Elizabeth(Mona Freeman). It's soon clear which one she prefers....... To me, John Payne just seldom feels like a western star, often looking too wimpy to be such a star. Lee Cobb has it all over him, in terms of charisma. Even Skip Homeier, as brother Sam, often outshines Payne. Andy Clyde, as whipsaw provides some light humor, and 'old timer' charisma. Lee Van Cleef plays one of Donovan's henchmen.....This was filmed in Republic's Trucolor process, which supposedly degrades over time, but I didn't detect a problem here.

"The Road to Denver" being a Republic Trucolor western is better made than most of westerns being made by other studios, but just routine for them. Directed by veteran Joe Kane it is rather predicable as the story unfolds.John Payne and Skip Homier play brothers Bill and Sam Mayhew. Bill is ever getting his hot tempered brother out of trouble. After breaking Sam out of jail the brothers decide to separate and go their separate ways. Bill is befriended by John Sutton (Ray Middleton) who is planning to start a stagecoach line and who also happens to have an attractive daughter Elizabeth (Mona Freeman).As luck would have it, Sam turns up in town and hires on as a gunfighter for town boss Jim Donovan (Lee J. Cobb). Naturally the brothers both take an interest in the comely Elizabeth. Meanwhile Sutton has made Bill a partner while Donovan plans to take over the new stage line. This leads to the inevitable showdown.As in most Republic westerns the supporting cast is made up of many recognizable western veterans. In addition to those already mentioned we have Andy Clyde along for comedy relief, Lee Van Cleef and Glenn Strange as Donovan henchmen, and Robert Burton, John Dierkes, Hank Worden, Francis McDonald, William Haade, Dick Alexander and Emory Parnell in various roles.Director Kane keeps thing moving and there is a dandy fight featuring the Republic stunt men. The acting is so so. Payne is one dimensional in the lead role and cannot hold up against the superior talent of Cobb, who although wasted here gives his usual great performance. Homier made a career out of playing the hot headed young gunfighter. Mona Freeman does what she can with a limited role.I think the film would have benefited from a stronger actor in the lead role.

Bill Mayhew is growing tired of bailing out his hot headed younger brother, Sam. After breaking him loose from a Texas jail he decides enough is enough and tells Sam they must go their separate ways. He heads towards Denver and sets up in Central City where he lands a job (and soon to be partnership) with kindly gent John Sutton, he also starts to fall for Sutton's pretty daughter Elizabeth. However it soon becomes apparent that the towns money mad crook, Jim Donovan has issues with Sutton's dealings, and after enlisting into his fold the newly arrived in town, Sam, sets up the scenario of the brothers being on opposing sides.Simple yet executed with no little style, The Road To Denver is a hugely enjoyable Western. It's directed by Western specialist Joe Kane and stars John Payne (Bill Mayhew), Mona Freeman (Elizabeth Sutton), Lee J. Cobb (Jim Donovan), Ray Middleton (John Sutton), Skip Homeier (Sam Mayhew) & Lee Van Cleef (Pecos Larry). The tale of sibling rivalry amongst the fabulous Snow Canyon location is highly watchable stuff, where even though the sense of the inevitable is hard to get away from, a number of sequences delight and fully form the story. Homeier is particularly good at playing the loose cannon role of Sam, and the best scenes tend to land with him, but Lee J Cobb is always a solid performer, and when given a bad guy role such as here, he positively delivers with sneer in full effect.One of Kane's better efforts in the genre, and certainly one that is either under seen or undervalued on internet sites, so if you get the chance have a look, because it's a very tidy little piece. 7/10

I'm giving 'The Road to Denver' a 7 because the story is not fantastic but it is entirely logical and watchable, certainly as much so as say a typical Western TV show. The acting is perhaps a bit better than others have said. I enjoy Skip Homeier in almost every movie he's in - he is in my opinion one of the all-time great Western character actors. Why he didn't share top billing with John Payne is a mystery to me.The story is a fairly basic one, two brothers trying to make their way in the old West but the younger one (Homeier) is just too much of a handful, causing fights and getting into trouble. The brothers argue and split up, landing on opposite sides of the law, with the older one (Payne) becoming part owner of a stage line and the younger one joining up with group of crooks trying to rob the stage and take over the business. One thing in this movie's favor is that it was shot in color, always a bonus. There are some truly beautiful outdoor scenes, and this film seems to have been shot at the onset of winter since there are also scenes with some snow on the ground. It's really a pretty movie to watch. I might normally rate a movie like this as a 6 but it gains a point because of Homeier. Get me a beer and some popcorn and I'll gladly watch this one again.